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Apple or Microsoft, which is cheaper?
It is all over the news that Apple (AAPL) surpassed Microsoft (MSFT) market capitalization last week becoming the largest tech company from that metric perspective. The question is which one is more expensive?
Assume you have $500 to invest and you are trying to decide which one is a better bet. Let’s see. On June 10th, Microsoft opened near $25 and Apple near $250. So you could buy 20 MSFT or 2 AAPL. So what are you really buying with your hard earned bucks? Based on the prior 12 months and latest financial statements these are the numbers (rounded):
AAPL: revenue $51B, Net Income $10.7B, Cash and Short term investments $23B, and a market cap of $227B (908 M outstanding shares).
MSFT: revenue $59B, Net Income $17.2B, Cash and ST investments $39B with a market cap of $218B (8720 M outstanding shares).
So if you buy 2 shares of Apple your $500 buy you $112 in revenue, $23.50 in NI, and $50.70 in cash. Microsoft’s 20 shares are $135.3 in revenue, $39.4 in NI, and $89.4 in cash. In other words, picking one metric, let’s say cash, Microsoft is trading at 5.6 times cash, Apple at 9.8 times cash. That is 1.76 times more expensive!
Now, let me throw Google (GOOG) into the mix, just for kicks: Google was trading at around $480 with a market cap of $115B (240M shares). Revenues of $25B, Net Income of $7.1B, Cash $26B. You can buy 1.04 GOOG, meaning $108 in revenue, $30.8 NI, and an impressive $113 in cash (4.44 times cash).
So you tell me which one is more expensive? I know, I know, this is based on past results and does not factor in growth potential, investor’s sentiment, cult followers, and other factors. But for the same reason it clearly paints a picture of which company is more favored by investors and which one is less.
Consider one last point: Microsoft hit an all time high of $58.37 on December 31, 1999, Google $724.80 on December 14, 2007, and Apple hit $272.40 on April 26, 2010. Investor’s favoritism has been shifting over time. What’s next for all these three? If I knew, I wouldn’t be blogging about it but it is definitely interesting behavior of 3 of the most traded stocks.
Quoting Scott Adams, the creator of Dilbert, “I remind you to ignore me”. By no means this is an endorsment to invest in any of these companies. You, my fellow reader (singular) make your own judgment.
Enjoy.
Your Real "Real Money"
Cramer writes as he speaks: a little too cocky, self confident, straightforward, candid, and with a couple of “insider” jokes that make you think he is the only one that finds them funny. It is a great flight book (that is a book to read on a boring 6 hour flight). That being said, the book is a good collection of sane (yes, I said sane) advices for the novice and no so novice investor. His stock-picking rules are a good organized way to summarize the basics of disciplined investing / trading. I have two pet peeves on his recommendations: the way he defines diversification (which is not exclusive of Mr. Cramer), and the 5 stock limit for part time investors. Let me explain.
Stocks Suck!
We hear all the time that investing in stocks is the best way to grow your money in a passive way. Over the long run stocks have always outperformed other asset classes. hmm… let’s see: The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) closed at around 380 points on August 1, 1929 with a volume of some 3.8 million shares. 80 years seem like long term, right? $1000 invested in the DJIA on August 1, 1929 will be worth today, May 1, 2009 $21, 529 with a volume of around 10 billion shares. Pretty good. If we assume a 3% inflation rate for 80 years, it is equivalent to $2029 in 1929 dollars. The chart on top shows our inflation adjusted grand invested in August 1929, of course backwards. We doubled our money in 80 years! It doesn’t seem like a lot, now does it?
Diversified or Balanced Index.
Dow Jones price weighted averages
If you are invested in a fund that follows the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) the chart on the left shows the percentage allocation you had on February 23, 2009 by index component. You may think you are diversified, which is true, but you are by no means balanced. 10% of your investment is in IBM shares and less than 1% is in GM. Although you may be thankful for the latter it makes the point that you are not balanced at all. This has to do with the way the DJIA is calculated. Diversification is all you hear from Cramer to Orman to your local financial adviser. The indexes, major indicators, or SMIS (Security Market Indicator Series) like the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) or S&P500 are a sure way to diversify since buying into them means buying 30 or 500 companies from technology to financials to automotive (good luck with the last two). That is fundamentally correct. However, the way the index is calculated is the trick, especially in times of turmoil like the present.
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